The Bestest of Friends
by Kat Lee formerly Pirate Turner
Summary: Rabbit finds himself with a decision to make. He may have to learn to share his beloved Tigger, or he could lose him forever.  RabbitTigger Slash.  Some Het.
1. Chapter 1

Title: "The Bestest of Friends"  
>Author: Pirate Turner<br>Rating: PG  
>Summary: Rabbit finds himself with a decision to make. He may have to learn to share his beloved Tigger, or he could lose him forever.<br>Warnings: Slash, Establilshed Relationships, Referenced Het  
>Word Count: 4,558<br>Date Written: 21-22 May 2011  
>Challenge: For a DiteysBlessings LJ comm's monthly challenge<br>Disclaimer: Rabbit, Tigger, Roo, any other characters mentioned within, the One Hundred Acre Woods, and Winnie the Pooh are & TM A. A. Milne and Disney, neither of whom are the author; are used without permission; and may not be used without permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.

**Chapter One**

Tigger looked up as Rabbit came hopping down the forest trail toward him. He smiled at the way his love moved, bouncing and shaking his bunny fur and tail. He didn't know how his love managed it, but even now, in the most dire of times, Rabbit seemed to be in a good mood. He was singing, though Tigger's ears could not yet make out enough of the words he sang to determine the song, and he had brought a picnic lunch with him.

Rabbit bounded to a stop before Tigger, and his pink nose wriggled. "Ready to go?" he asked, and when Tigger blinked in surprise, Rabbit's brow furrowed. "Don't tell me - " he demanded, " - you're not coming."

"But, buddy boy," Tigger cried, waving his paws in the air, "how can you even think about still going on a picnic now?"

"And why not?" Rabbit questioned, though already bristling at the answer he knew would meet his ears.

"Roo's missing!" Tigger wailed. "We can't just abandon him!"

"He's a joey," Rabbit pointed out. "So he ran off for a little while. He'll come back."

"He's been missing all day!" Tigger exclaimed with unshed tears of worry and fear sparkling in his big, black eyes. "We've looked everywhere!"

"Clearly not everywhere," Rabbit returned, his fluffy tail ruffling, "because if you had, you would have found him. He's a joey, Tigger, just a baby."

"That's purrcisely why I can't leave him!"

Rabbit rolled his eyes. "He's probably looking at us right now, laughing behind his paw at all of you worrying over him." He brought himself up to his full height and proudly jerked a thumb at his slender chest. "Well, I, for one, am not going to let a baby interrupt my adult plans. I am going to go on the picnic, Tigger. If you want to come, that would be great."

"I do want to come, but I can't just leave Roo when he needs me!"

Rabbit glared at his mate, one eyebrow curved dramatically upwards. "If, on the other paw, you decide to stay here," he forced himself to shrug his shoulders in a show of nonchalance, "then it will just have to be a picnic for one. I'll enjoy the carrot cake, carrot pie, and carrot souffle all by myself, as well as the cookies, honey, . . . " His voice began to trail off as Rabbit bounded away.

"Honey?" Pooh asked, looking up from the hunt for Roo for the first time. "Did somebody say honey?" His stomach grumbled. "Oh, bother," he pouted. "We've been looking for Roo all morning, and I'm really starting to get quite the rumbly in my tumly . . . "

"Oh, Pooh Bear," Piglet said, taking his lover's paw in his own small, pink paw. "It'll be okay. We'll find him soon, and then we'll go to your place and have all the honey we want."

"Do you really think we'll find him soon?" Pooh asked.

Piglet patted his paw. "I'm sure of it," he reassured. "After all, he's such a little fellow, barely bigger than I am. He's got to be somewhere close around here, and we'll find him soon."

Tigger's ears twitched back and forth as he listened to Pooh and Piglet's conversation. He wrung his striped tail, which hung limply with his sadness, as he watched Rabbit's fluffy, little tail bounding away into the far distance. That one white spot was all he could see of his lover now, and his tears filled his eyes even more. Why couldn't Rabbit stay with him as Piglet stayed with Pooh? Why couldn't he reassure him? Why'd he have to be so jealous of Roo?

His thoughts came to an abrupt stop as though some one could hear him as he felt movement behind him, but a sniffle nonetheless broke free. He wiped the falling tears from his furry face with the tip of his striped tail as a gentle hand laid reassuringly upon his shoulder. "It's okay, Tigger," Kanga assured him. "If you want to go with your boyfriend, I understand."

Tigger shook his head slowly and turned away from where Rabbit's tail was vanishing in the far distant trees. He turned to face Kanga, and though tears of sadness and loneliness still glistened in his eyes, he told her, "It's okay. I'm fine." He shrugged his shoulders and bounced on his tail though nowhere nearly as high as he normally did. "If he wants to have a picnic of one, let him. We don't need him. We'll find Roo all by ourselves."

He started bouncing higher and higher and called back down to the worried mother, "We'll find him, Kanga. I've got the best advantage spot in the whole One Hundred Acre Woods from way up here!" He bounced again. "We'll find him." He declared, "After all, finding lost friends is the second best thing that Tiggers do, right after bouncing!" He bounced still higher, his paw shielding his eyes as he looked out over the horizon for Roo. "Come on, little buddy, where could you be?"

**To Be Continued . . . **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Rabbit sighed as he settled down next to the river. He didn't like coming way out here by himself. He hated leaving Tigger behind. Yet Rabbit realized that he didn't have much choice. Ever since Kanga's husband had mysteriously disappeared from the One Hundred Acre Wood, Tigger had been growing steadily closer with Roo until he'd recently started letting the little kangaroo interrupt their time together.

Rabbit hadn't minded Tigger's involvement with the fatherless joey until that involvement had started pulling Tigger away from him. When Tigger had first brought Roo along to what had been supposed to be one of their own private play dates, Rabbit had put his foot down. He had told his love then and there that whereas he didn't mind his friendship with Roo, he wanted no part of it in his house. Neighbors were a menace to one's house and garden, and baby neighbors were the worst. They had no respect for any one else's belongings and were constantly causing trouble and breaking things, and although Roo had done absolutely no damage all that night, Rabbit had not changed his mind in the least.

The night after that interrupted play date, Tigger had come home to him as he should, and they had had a splendid time together. It had been the only following night, however, that Tigger had canceled their date so that he could go spend time with Roo. They had been fighting off and on ever since then about Tigger's involvement with the joey, and although Tigger had not dared to cancel another of their dates, he had been coming increasingly later to their engagements.

Then, this morning, when Owl had stopped by to inquire as to rather or not he'd seen Roo while Rabbit had been working in his garden and he'd learned of the joey's disappearance, Rabbit had known that he would have more trouble with Tigger. Although he'd hoped that Tigger would keep their picnic date, Rabbit had known in his sinking heart of hearts that it would prove to be another canceled engagement between them. He felt bad for the little joey. Truly, he did, but not to the point that he'd let him continue to interfere with his romance with Tigger.

Tigger had to learn that Rabbit should always come first in his book of who's who, far before Roo or any one else, and so when he'd chosen to stay and look for the joey rather than accompany his mate on the date they'd been planning for days, Rabbit had left him. Now he sat alone on the bank of the river, feeling more lonely than he had in years and completely miserable. His long ears, tail, and whiskers drooped, and he looked down at the churning water and the schools of fish passing beneath him.

The day was beautiful. Blue sky and fluffy, white clouds stretched on for as far as the eye could see. It was the type of day made for lovers, and yet here Rabbit sat, utterly alone and his thoughts constantly turning to the tiger he loved and who, though Rabbit knew he loved him too, persisted in putting a baby that was neither of theirs and certainly, thereby, neither of their responsibilities in the slightest ahead of him. Rabbit's big feet dangled in the brisk, cool water. He reached into his basket, withdrew a carrot, and began to munch even as big tears slowly rolled down his face and splashed into the water.

He dabbed at his tears. He'd not let Tigger make him cry. After all, Tigger had made his decision. He'd stayed behind when Rabbit had invited him and made it clear that he wanted him to come. He'd put a rodent ahead of him! Rabbit's ears trembled as he began to cry openly, and then suddenly, from somewhere behind him, Rabbit heard a soft, quiet sob. He froze, his teeth embedded in the orange flesh of his carrot. His ears twitched and twisted around to where he could listen better to what was happening behind him, and then, with as much clearness as was in the blue, blue sky above him or the blue water in which his feet dangled, Rabbit heard a tiny voice crying.

Rabbit's entire body, except for his small, pink nose, kept still as he listened to the sobs coming from somewhere behind him. His nose twitched like mad, the only sign of the emotions warring within him. He had found Roo, and the little joey was crying his heart out! He shouldn't care, he thought. Roo wasn't his baby. He wasn't his responsibility. And yet he did care.

Carefully keeping from turning his face toward the sound, Rabbit reached over to his picnic basket and withdrew the carrot cake he'd baked fresh that morning. He sat it onto the open ground beside him and spoke loudly. "It's too bad I don't have any one with whom to share this cake. Tigger would have enjoyed it, but he's too busy looking for little Roo. I wonder where that joey's gone off to now." He shrugged, his little, bunny tail twitching. "I bet he'd like this cake too."

Watching Rabbit from his hiding place inside a big bush further up the river bank, Roo dabbed at his eyes and pushed himself slightly higher up on his tail. The cake did smell good, he thought, his nose sniffing the delicious, enticing scent, but Rabbit didn't really want to share his cake. He didn't want to share his cake or Tigger with him. He knew that that was why they'd been fighting. Outside of his mama, Tigger was his only friend in the whole, wide world, and Tigger spending time with him was causing him trouble.

All Roo did was bring trouble to those he loved. He'd caused his father to run away, and now Tigger was fighting with his own bestest friend in all the world because Rabbit thought he was spending too much time with him. Roo sniffled. He probably was. Tigger was always there for him, and it wasn't fair. He was the one taking him away from his friend. He was a bad joey. He sobbed more loudly.

Rabbit's heart broke even more at the sound. "I think I'll just go ahead and cut a few pieces," he spoke aloud, withdrawing saucers and a butter knife from his basket. "Then when Tigger finds Roo and brings him to our picnic, we'll all be able to enjoy the cake together." He shook his head as Roo sobbed again. "It's just no fun to eat a cake by oneself." He pushed the pieces aside and looked back out to the river, determined to wait however long it took for the scared, little joey to come forward.

Secretly, Rabbit kicked himself. Both he and Roo wanted Tigger, and although he loved his mate with all his heart, Roo actually did need him worse right now. It wasn't like Tigger was trying to leave Rabbit for Roo, he thought, feeling as though he'd been the most stupid bunny in all the world. He had consistently tried to involve Rabbit with everything he was doing with Roo until Rabbit had told him he wanted no part of anything to do with the little, fatherless joey. He'd hurt both Tigger and Roo by doing so, Rabbit realized at last, and he was the one being the jerk in this picture, not Tigger.

"Roo," Rabbit called softly, and the baby kangaroo frightfully jumped and then stilled like a statue. "I know you're here. Please come out. I'm sorry for being a jerk. I'd love for you to eat a piece of my cake."

"R-Really?" Roo asked from the bush, his voice trembling, and then, realizing he'd spoken aloud, the little one clamped both paws over his mouth. His wide eyes watched Rabbit as Rabbit turned to look toward his hiding place.

He smiled into the bushes. "Really," he said and reached a hand out toward where Roo's voice had come. "I'm sorry for being a jerk. Will you forgive me?"

Roo slowly inched closer. "That depends," he thought, remembering a conversation he'd heard between Rabbit and Tigger. "Can I have a cookie?"

Rabbit sniffed, and another tear rolled down his long, furry face. Tigger had used that same joke the night they'd fought after dinner because Tigger had brought Roo over uninvited. "Yes," Rabbit answered, withdrawing a cookie from his basket and offering it into the air, "you may."

Roo hesitantly bounded forward, and Rabbit felt him trembling as he took the cookie from his furry paw. He ate it quickly, and Rabbit's long ears caught the rumbling of his tummy. "That was so good!" Roo exclaimed, licking every last crumb from his lips. "Do you have any more?"

"I have plenty," Rabbit replied, smiling and aching inside at the realization and acceptance of the deeper meaning of his words, "to share." He gave Roo one of the slices of frosting-laden cake he'd cut next, and the two ate the picnic Rabbit had made for his beloved Tigger and himself in silence.

"Yum!" Roo exclaimed after a bit, his little, brown tail thumping the ground. "That was good!"

Rabbit smiled down at the little joey and watched as his tail hit the ground in enthusiasm. He knew that one day that tail would be strong enough to knock down a young tree, but for now, it was still small. Everything about this little fellow was small, and yet Rabbit had tried so hard to shut him away from him, out of his world, and away from his beloved Tigger, who also happened to be Roo's best friend. He swallowed hard as he fought down the tears that threatened to brim again in his eyes. His nose and whiskers quivered, and his ears lowered. "I'm glad you liked it," he said softly.

"It was delicious!" Roo grinned up at him, but then his smile fell away. "But . . . " he spoke hesitantly, his tail falling softly against the earth, " . . . I thought you were mad at me?"

"Mad at you?" Rabbit repeated. He forced a chuckle. "No, no," he assured, "not at all!"

"Then why . . . ?" Roo started to ask, but Rabbit cut him off with a deep and heavy sigh.

"I was a jerk," he admitted, his ears lowering all the way behind his slender shoulders and his white puff of a tail tucking underneath his furry buttocks. "I've never been good at sharing. I don't like to share."

Roo looked fearfully over at the emptied containers and picnic basket. "But I thought you wanted to share your food?" he asked, squirming.

Rabbit placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, stilling his small body. He looked forlornly down into the little joey's face. "I did," he said. "I like to share food, but I'm very stingy . . . " Roo blinked, clearly confused by his choice of words. " . . . selfish," Rabbit amended and waited for understanding to flicker in the baby kangaroo's eyes before continuing, " . . . about everything else. I don't like to share my friends, and I especially don't like to share my ma - my very best friend in all the world."

"Who's that?" Roo asked. "Tigger?"

Rabbit nodded. "Yes." His ears, nose, tail, and whiskers again twitched. That, he thought, was certainly putting it mildly. He and Tigger had been together for years. He couldn't imagine having any one else in his life, at his side, and in his bed but his beloved Tigger, and for years, though they'd spent some time with the other animals in the One Hundred Acre Wood, he and Tigger had always spent more time together than alone or with any one else.

That had stopped when Roo had lost his father as Tigger had started spending increasingly more time with the little one, and Rabbit had been infuriated by his jealousy. Now he realized how little reason he had to be angry, and he kicked himself again inwardly. Roo needed a friend, and that's all that Tigger had been trying to do for the little guy. He'd just been trying to help him keep going after losing his father.

Rabbit himself had seen Roo and Kanga talking about his father a couple of days ago, and he'd noticed how quiet Roo had gotten when Kanga had started to cry about her missing husband. The little guy didn't have anybody else in the world to really talk to, he now understood, except for Tigger, and Tigger had been caught between trying to help him survive the loss eating away at his family and spending time with Rabbit. He'd tried to do both, but Rabbit himself had not let him. He sniffed and lowered his head and ears in shame.

"He's my very bestest friend in all the world, too," Roo said, and Rabbit sighed and kicked himself again.

"I know," he said quietly.

"But if you don't want to share him," Roo offered, forcing himself to appear far more brave about the situation than he really felt, "I can find another bestest friend."

**To Be Concluded. . . **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Roo knew there wasn't any one else in the whole, wide world who would understand him or make him laugh like Tigger did, but he didn't want to keep causing Tigger and Rabbit to fuss or Rabbit to be sad. He reached out and touched the bunny's knee with a gentle, timid paw. "I'm sorry I made you sad."

"Oh, no," Rabbit sniffled, sucking in his ears. He shook his head. "It wasn't that at all," he assured. "I made myself sad."

Roo blinked and cocked his head to one side. "How'd you do that?" he asked.

"By being mean," Rabbit told him simply, and then he shrugged. "By being me."

"My Daddy once told me, way before we moved here, that if you didn't like you, you should change you."

Rabbit looked at him in surprise. "He told you that, huh?"

"Yup." Roo nodded. "I was trying to fit in with the other kids, but I did something I didn't really like to do and felt bad about it later, and he told me that if I didn't like me, I needed to change me so that I'd like me and not worry about if the other kids liked me or not."

"And did you?" Rabbit asked. "Did you change yourself and like yourself better now?"

Roo nodded again. "Yup. I got a much better friend in Tigger than in any of those kids back home."

"He does make a good friend, doesn't he?" Rabbit mused, hearing footsteps behind them.

"Uh huh," Roo agreed, "he does, but if you want him all to yourself, you can have him. You don't have to share if you don't want to."

Rabbit looked up over little Roo's head, and his dark, shimmering eyes met with Tigger's. "I think I'd like to share," he said quietly, trembling inside from the intense feelings sweeping through his heart and soul, "very much." Why had he been so blind, he wondered? Why hadn't he been able to see how much Roo was hurting and that Tigger was only trying desperately to help the little guy? Why hadn't he been more caring instead of so self-absorbed?

Still gazing quietly into Tigger's eyes, Rabbit asked Roo, "You miss your father, don't you?"

The little kangaroo bobbed his head quickly up and down. "Yeah, I do. A lot. But having Tigger around makes it easier." He grinned. "He makes me laugh a lot."

"He's good at that, too," Rabbit agreed, telling Tigger with his eyes how much he loved him.

Tigger returned the unspoken message, then winked, nodded, and began to bounce backwards.

"He really is the best friend in all the world," Rabbit remarked as he watched Tigger bounding backwards and prepared himself for what he knew was coming.

"Yeah," Roo agreed, and then giggled. "You know, one time - " he started to say but his words broke off as he was suddenly jumped from behind. Tigger rolled the little kangaroo onto his back and tickled him with striped and swift paws.

"There's my little buddy boy!" Tigger exclaimed, purring loudly. "Where you been hiding, little guy?"

"I've been . . . " Roo admitted between giggles, " . . . right here . . . " He laughed shrilly as Tigger rolled and tickled him, and Rabbit smiled as he quietly watched the pair. He'd never thought he'd willingly share his beloved Tigger with any one, but their lives, he knew now, had been forever changed. At long last, he was ready to accept that change with open paws and never look back, and if he did have to share his love with some one, he could think of no one he'd rather share him with than this little, forlorn joey who seemed, at times, to carry the weight of the world on his tiny shoulders.

He thought again of the time he'd overheard Kanga and Roo talking about Roo's missing father. Kanga had tried her best to be strong, but she'd broken down and started crying. It had been little Roo who had held his mother while she'd cried and who had changed the subject and successfully cheered her back up. Roo needed Tigger almost as badly as Rabbit himself did, and Rabbit vowed then and there that he'd never try to keep the two apart again.

Roo squirmed underneath Tigger until he broke free and pounced on top of him. "My turn now!" he cried and started tickling him until he heard his mother's voice.

"Oh, Roo, sweetheart, thank goodness you're okay!"

"Mom?" Roo asked, looking up and blinking to see his concerned mother through the tears of joy filling his little, brown eyes. He leapt off of Tigger when he saw his mother crying and bounded immediately to her. "Oh, Mom, it's okay! I was just having fun with Rabbit and Tigger!"

Kanga threw her arms around her baby and held him close for a long time, silent tears of relief and gratitude for her little joey's safe return racing down her furry cheeks. Rabbit and Tigger watched in silence, and Rabbit reached out and took Tigger's paw in his own. Tigger's eyes again met Rabbit's, and he smiled as he squeezed his paw. "I thought you said the other night that you don't have a maternal bone in your body?" he whispered.

"I did," Rabbit admitted with a nod, "and I still don't. You," he said, smiling proudly, "on the other paw, most certainly do. I'd be more the father type, I think, or maybe an uncle. I don't have what it takes to put everything else to the side to make sure a baby's happy, buy you do, Tigger, and you do it beautifully." He leaned close to his love and kissed him.

Kanga cleared her voice, and the two males jumped apart and looked at her. "Thank you," she said, taking first Tigger's paws and then Rabbit's paws in her hands and squeezing them gently. "Thank you so much for taking care of my baby!"

"Any time, madam," Tigger said gallantly. He bowed and then sprang back up into the air. "After all, taking care of friends is what Tiggers do best!"

Kanga laughed. "Tiggers do a lot of things best, don't they?" she asked Rabbit, and he nodded proudly.

"They do, but, like he said, any time." He offered a wavering smile. "Maybe we can meet tomorrow at my house for lunch?"

"I think we'd like that, wouldn't we, Roo?"

"Oh, yeah!" Roo cried eagerly. "Mom, Rabbit makes the best carrot cake and carrot pie in the whole, wide world!"

Kanga looked down at him in surprise. "You mean he actually got you to eat vegetables?"

"You bet!" Roo grinned from ear to ear, and Kanga looked back up at Rabbit with new respect and increased gratitude shining in her eyes.

"We've definitely got to get together and share some recipes then," she said.

"I'd like that," Rabbit replied, his heart warming. "We can do that while Tigger and Roo play."

"And I'm going to hide so good," Tigger told Roo, pressing a paw against his nose gently, "that you're going to have the whole One Hundred Acre Woods looking for me just like we were looking for you today!"

"You were?" Roo asked in surprise.

"Yes, we all were," Kanga told him and turned so that he could see all of their friends gathered behind them from his rightful place in her warm pouch. Pooh, Piglet, and Owl gathered close around the little kangaroo.

Gopher whistled sharply from where he was hanging out of his hole. "You betcha, and it sure took all day to find you too! I've got a look of work to catch up on!" He burrowed back down into his tunnel.

Eeyore sighed sadly and shook his head. "It did take all day," he agreed, "but at least we finally found you and my tail actually stayed on today." He felt a pressure release from his rear end, looked between his legs, and gave a hefty sigh. "Oh, well," he moaned. "So much for that." He then stuck his face closer to Roo. "But I'm glad you're okay, little fellow."

"We all are," Rabbit acknowledged, "and we'll see you tomorrow at noon."

"Be good, buddy boy!" Tigger told Roo as he turned away, still holding hands with Rabbit.

"I will!" Roo promised and then relished all the attention from his other new friends as Rabbit and Tigger bounded away into the growing shadows of the forest, paw in paw.

Rabbit sighed softly as he leaned into his forever mate. "I love you!" he told Tigger.

"I love you, too, bunny boy," Tigger answered, hugging him tightly and softly stroking his furry face, "but you know I said something wrong earlier."

"What's that?" Rabbit asked with a knowing smile; a twitch of his pink nose and fluffy, white tail; and an expectant shimmer to his brown eyes.

"Bouncing and making and protecting friends are all things Tiggers do best," Tigger exclaimed, "but what we really do bestest of all bests is bouncing the Rabbits we love!" He bounced high into the air, came down upon Rabbit, and proceeded to bounce him gladly all through the night!

**The End**


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